Because of the animal overpopulation in Alabama, both shelters still are forced to euthanize healthy, adoptable dogs and cats. Still GBHS, SHS and other shelters such as BJC Animal Control are doing a much better job saving a higher percentage of the animals that end up in their facilities.

Thanks to aggressive, in-house adoption programs and alliances with quality rescues in the area, more of these animal lives are being saved.

Animals

About the writerJoey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, focuses on animal issues for the Alabama Media Group. He is also a community engagement specialist for AL.com. He can be reached at jkennedy@al.com.

But transport is a significant factor as well, especially in recent years as transport programs have expanded. Most of the animals are transported to the Northeast, where low-cost spay/neuter programs have been in place for years, which has limited the number of healthy, adoptable animals (mainly dogs) in some of those locations.

Contrast that to Alabama, where the state Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and a few veterinarians who care more about money than animals are trying to shut down the few low-cost spay/neuter clinics that do exist.

Thus, we have dogs and cats to spare. Even with adoption and transport, there still are tens of thousands of healthy animals killed every year.

Novelist J. Courtney Sullivan, in a recent oped in The New York Times, offered a perspective of how important transport is from that other side.

In her essay "Adopt a Dog With a Southern Drawl," she points out her own dog, a 60-pound retriever mix named Landon, was hours away from being euthanized at an animal control shelter in Tennessee before being rescued three years ago. Then Landon was transported to a Manhattan shelter where Sullivan adopted him a few days after he arrived.

"Many of the dogs that are routinely euthanized in Southern states -- healthy Labs, hounds, shepherds and others, including puppies of various breeds -- are in high demand in the Northeast, where low-cost spay and neuter services are the norm, kill rates are down, and there are exponentially more potential adopters," Sullivan writes.

Sullivan reports a Long Island no-kill shelter placed more than 6,600 dogs from Southern states last year, with more than 5,000 of those puppies.

This pup is ready for a ride to the Northeast to find a forever home.

"Until spay and neuter practices become a matter of course for all pet owners, the majority of dogs in Southern shelters will be euthanized," writes Sullivan. "Every day, rescuers must decide which ones to save and which to leave behind. . . .

"I'm keenly aware of how close Landon came to being a sad statistic," writes Sullivan. "Instead, he's lying beside me on the couch right now, wondering what's for dinner."

Adoption and fostering are vital. Transport, as well. But the single most important factor in dealing with dog and cat overpopulation in Alabama and throughout the South, in stopping the killing of healthy dogs and cats: Having animals spayed or neutered.

The best way to facilitate that on a widespread basis is through the high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter clinics that are affordable for those who can't (and won't) pay $300 or more to a private-practice veterinarian to fix their pet.

Other states have done it. So can we, if we just will.

Do you think Alabama should allow nonprofit, low-cost spay/neuter clinics to operate? Explain why or why not in the comments below.